Illness brought down early human rival: scientist [ Neandertal ]

Jyllands-Posten ^ | Tuesday, July 7, 2009 | The Copenhagen Post

[SunkenCiv]

Infectious disease carried by Homo sapiens was responsible for the demise of the Neanderthal, according to a new theory Scientists seeking to uncover the mystery of what happened to the Neanderthals should look to the modus operandi of another great...

Scientists seeking to uncover the mystery of what happened to the Neanderthals should look to the modus operandi of another great die-off 30,000 years later, argues a Danish expert in an article submitted to the Journal of Archaeological Science.

In the article, professor emeritus Bent Sørensen of the University of Roskilde wrote that disease carried by Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa was responsible for the gradual extinction of our prehistoric cousins in the same way that European illnesses ravaged Native American populations in the sixteenth century.

'Modern humans brought illnesses they could survive themselves, but for Neanderthals they were deadly,' Sørensen said.

Sørensen's article challenges the leading theories about why Neanderthals disappeared from Europe 30,000 years ago.

Those theories suggest that the stockier Neanderthals were unable to adapt to a changing climate or that they were killed off as humans encroached on their territory. But according to Sørensen, skeletal remains show no conclusive evidence that Neanderthals had been killed as a result of violence caused by humans.

He hopes efforts currently underway to map the DNA from the remains of a 38,000 year-old Neanderthal found in Croatia can uncover evidence to support his theory.

Similar methods, he said, have been used to identify tuberculosis in 5,000 year-old remains discovered in Egypt.

[SunkenCiv]

Chew on this for a while:

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	No, no, let me do it. I had some errands to run, and wanted to head to Blues on the Mall (first visit to it in eight or nine years), so the many, many interesting topics which could have been posted have languished until now. And I'm only posting like maybe one more of 'em, then heading to bed. Long day tomorrow, Friday off, working Saturday, sort-of plans Sunday, Monday off, twelve hour days next week. Not that big a deal, you may say, but I am a lazy, lazy man. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[jessduntno]

Probably one of W’s ancient relatives...

[fanfan]

Not that big a deal, you may say, but I am a lazy, lazy man.

Soul mate.

[JoeProBono]

[johnnycap]

So Homo Sapien Illnesses killed the Neandertal. I believe it. Back in the 1980’s a similar thing happened when Video Killed The Radio Star.

[wendy1946]

'Modern humans brought illnesses they could survive themselves, but for Neanderthals they were deadly,' Sørensen said.

Then what kept neanderthal diseases from wiping US out??

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

It’s my mother. I’ll put her on speaker.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

See my post in message #1. :’)

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[null and void]

We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far...

[PUGACHEV]

It's probably by chance that the diseases Neanderthals had grown immune to were less deadly that the ones our ancestors had evolved to live with. Something similar happened in the Conquest of Mexico: Europeans had a higher degree of tolerance to Smallpox than did the native Mexicans, but no disease native to Mexico affected the Spanish as badly.

But, again, looking at the effect of European diseases on the New World, while they decimated populations to the point that native cultures were unsustainable, they did not exterminate them. A small number of people possessed natural immunity, just a a small number of Europeans had some type of immunity to the Black Death. I do not see an historical precedent to a disease wiping out an entire race; always some few survive, and later flourish.

[MHGinTN]

“... and later flourish.” Or mimngle with the stronger population until they become extinct as a singular species.

[bert]

First the neanderthals, then the American Indians....

Measles and Small pox killed off the Noble Savages

[Grimmy]

“...But none of the alleged ‘ancestors of us all’ fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe.” [pp 126-127]”

So, the great mystery is solved. Modern Humans left europe and came to America. The neanderthals stayed put in europe.

This also explains the hatred of european ‘philosophers’ of the not so distant past and their obsessive hatred of all things modern and their undying belief that Americans were uniquely guilty of being egregiously modern.

Post Modernism is, then, an attempt to bring the neanderthalians back to a position of cultural supremacy.

[pabianice]

In this case, Liberalism is a desease carried by Democrats that threatens to wipe us out.

[colorado tanker]

Disposing of the Neanderthals. So easy a cave man could do it . . . .

[colorado tanker]

Ward Churchill looks more like a Neanderthal than an Indian. Maybe he can found a Neanderthal Studies department. Yea, that's it. Homo Sapiens brought the Neanderthals down with smallpox blankets!